The Abu Dhabi criminal court charged 28 persons from five nationalities on Wednesday, in a $174 million investment scam that is considered one of the biggest fraud and money laundering cases in the country.

Al-Bayan newspaper reported that the 28 defendants were charged with scamming one of the country’s banks.

The criminal court in the UAE capital, issued jail terms totaling 284 years against the defendants - who hail from Russia, the United States, India, Canada and Pakistan - who have to serve their terms and pay back the funds to the bank.

The eight defendants will serve 15 years each, while 10 other defendants will be jailed for 10 years each, while other nine defendants were charged with transferring money to their accounts with jail terms of seven years each, and one defendant will be jailed one year and deported later on.

The court heard testimonies from two officers from the General Prosecution office which was corroborated by the Abu Dhabi Criminal Investigation Department who were instrumental in aborting the scam of stealing the money from one of the country’s banks through electronic transactions to the accounts of five companies in different banks. The money from these accounts was then planned to be transferred to the accounts of other sub companies in different location in the UAE.